Philadelphia Girls' Rowing Club Records 3670 Finding Aid Prepared by Megan Evans

Philadelphia Girls' Rowing Club records 3670 Finding aid prepared by Megan Evans.. Last updated on November 09, 2018. First edition Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; 2016. Philadelphia Girls' Rowing Club records Table of Contents Summary Information....................................................................................................................................3 Biography/History..........................................................................................................................................4 Scope and Contents....................................................................................................................................... 6 Arrangement note...........................................................................................................................................6 Administrative Information........................................................................................................................... 7 Related Materials........................................................................................................................................... 7 Controlled Access Headings..........................................................................................................................8 Collection Inventory...................................................................................................................................... 9 Administrative..........................................................................................................................................9 Financial.................................................................................................................................................24 Membership............................................................................................................................................33 Events.....................................................................................................................................................40 Memorabilia........................................................................................................................................... 43 National Women's Rowing Association records...................................................................................48 - Page 2 - Philadelphia Girls' Rowing Club records Summary Information Repository Historical Society of Pennsylvania Creator Philadelphia Girls' Rowing Club. Title Philadelphia Girls' Rowing Club records Call number 3670 Date [bulk] 1938-2011 Date [inclusive] 1913-2011 Extent 34 linear feet (; 75 boxes, 13 flat files, 65 volumes) Language English Abstract The Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club (PGRC) was founded in Philadelphia in 1938 by a group of seventeen women who were interested in pursuing recreational and competitive rowing at a time when women were discouraged from the sport. The club owns one of the oldest boathouses on Boathouse Row on the Schuylkill River, the former home of the Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society, which was built in 1861. The club boasts among its membership some of the early pioneers of women’s rowing in the United States. PGRC is one of the oldest operating all-female rowing clubs in the country. The club currently hosts the Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta and is home to the Agnes Irwin School’s rowing program as part of their effort to encourage women to tap into their maximum potential as athletes. The primary mission of the club is “to ensure that all members develop the skills to feel confident on the river and safely participate in this athletic pursuit. Proficiency in the sport enhances the pleasure of rowing. To that end, the coaches, captain, and members mentor each other so that each rower develops the - Page 3 - Philadelphia Girls' Rowing Club records technical skills to feel successful in her efforts, which further drives her passion for rowing.” The Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club records consist of the administrative and financial records of that organization as well as some membership records, rowing memorabilia, and administrative records from other rowing organizations. These materials include meeting minutes, correspondence, financial documents, boat logs, membership applications, event programs, photographs, scrapbooks, and other ephemera. The collection documents the administrative and membership activities of the club in addition to the broader development of women’s rowing in the United States and the history of the Schuylkill Navy and Boathouse Row. Cite as: Cite as: [Indicate cited item or series here], Philadelphia Girls' Rowing Club records (Collection 3670), The Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Biography/History The Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club (PGRC) was founded in 1938 by a group of seventeen women led by Ernestine Bayer, who were interested in pursuing recreational and competitive rowing. At the time of the club’s founding, rowing was widely considered a sport for men only and most of the rowing clubs along Philadelphia’s landmark Boathouse Row barred women from membership. The founding members of the club were: Ernestine Bayer, Doris Starsmore Brugger, Sally Greeley Cibort, Lenore Mongan Davis, Lovey Kohut Farrell, Betty Flavin Ford, Kay McFarland Gillen, Jeanette Waetjen Hoover, Mary Prior Jonik, Helen Muldowney Kiniry, Gladys Hauser Lux, Eileen Coughlan Mockus, Lucille Browning Nino, Jeanne Murphy Quirk, Ruth Adams Robinhold, Marge Cantwell Sonzogni, and Betty McManus Wilkins. Ernest Bayer, Ernestine’s husband and an Olympic rower, became the club’s first coach. As luck would have it, at the same time the club was founded a clubhouse on the Row became vacant. The Philadelphia Skating Club was founded in 1849 and in 1861, when it merged with the Humane Society, was one of the first clubs to build a permanent stone structure along the banks of the Schuylkill River below the Lemon Hill estate. By 1937, rising pollution levels meant the river rarely froze solid enough to support skating, so the Skating Club chose instead to build an indoor rink at Ardmore, where - Page 4 - Philadelphia Girls' Rowing Club records they moved their base of operations. PGRC rented the building until 1962, when they were able to purchase it outright. In 1984, the building was included on the list of National Historic Landmarks as a part of Boathouse Row. The first several years of the PGRC saw opposition and some hostility from male oarsmen in clubs along the Row. At best the women were simply shunned but at worst they had to endure catcalls while on the river and condescending press accounts that lingered over the novelty of women rowing in their shorts. The club did find some early male allies through Ernest Bayer which included Olympian Tom Curran, renowned coach Rusty Callow, and eighty-nine year old professional rower Fred Plaisted, who donated the club’s first two boats. In July 1939, the Schuylkill Navy agreed to host the first women’s race on the Schuylkill River at the end of the annual regatta as an “exhibition race” since the course was only a half mile long instead of the standard three-quarters. This race continued through the late 1950s before the women were welcome to race in other regattas. The World War II years and the 1950s saw the slow emergence of women’s rowing clubs and teams in the United States, with small clubs concentrated on the east and west coasts. However membership at PGRC had dropped off significantly, to the point where the City of Philadelphia threatened to revoke the club’s charter. The club’s fortunes were reversed with renewed effort by some of the original members who recruited Ted Nash, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, as coach. Nash was successful in scouting new competitive members for the club and, along with coach Ed Lickiss and PGRC member Joanne Wright Iverson, was instrumental in the founding of the National Women’s Rowing Association (NWRA) in 1963. A year later, the NWRA and its member clubs were formally accepted into the National Association of Amateur Oarsmen (NAAO), the governing body of competitive rowing in the United States. Through the efforts of NWRA, women’s rowing became an official Olympic event in 1976. The NAAO and the NWRA merged in 1982 to form the current governing body, USRowing. In 1967, the crew from PGRC won the women’s eight race at the second annual National Women’s Championships in Oakland, California and ultimately secured the blessing of the NAAO to compete in the quad and eights category of the European Championships in Vichy, France. Up until this time, the United States was the only major country not to have a women’s team represented in the event. Though the PGRC crew had to drop out of the quad and came in last place in the eights, the event was significant as the first time a United States women’s rowing team competed on an international level. That same year, PGRC was finally formally admitted to the Schuylkill Navy, the amateur governing body of the rowing clubs on Boathouse Row. In November 1973 the club began hosting its annual racing event, the Bill Braxton Memorial Regatta, named after a promising young rower from the Schuylkill Boat Club who died in a traffic accident. Proceeds from the regatta fund scholarships for rowers as college freshmen. As of 2016, the Philadelphia Girls’ Rowing Club is one of the oldest operating all-female rowing clubs in the United States. The club is currently home to the Agnes Irwin School’s rowing program as part of their

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